MSU sophomore Raymar Morgan. / Darron Cummings/Associated Press

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Lansing State Journal

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It’s about getting players in this business, period. This is No. 1 on the list by far, and most of the rest of this list exists to serve No. 1.

Tom Izzo scored a cornerstone in his first recruiting class as a head coach in 1995, landing coveted big man Antonio Smith of Flint. The next year, Smith’s high school teammate, Mateen Cleaves, pledged to Izzo. Flint’s Charlie Bell came the next year, followed by Saginaw’s Jason Richardson two years later, Lansing’s Marcus Taylor a year after that and Flint’s Kelvin Torbert in 2001.

Top in-state kids built Izzo’s foundation. He supplemented with other Midwesterners — Andre Hutson from Ohio, Zach Randolph from Indiana, Shannon Brown from Chicago, Raymar Morgan from Ohio.

He has done it, by all accounts, with a personable, tell-it-like-it-is approach, and by outworking his peers — for example, he was the only one of Brown’s pursuers to show up at a pick-up game in Hooks, Texas, a fact Brown credited for his decision.Izzo had a bit of a lull before the 2005 Final Four run, but he’s rolling lately. Delvon Roe (Euclid, Ohio), a 2008 verbal commitment, is one of the top forwards in the nation. Incoming recruit Chris Allen (Lawrenceville, Ga.) may have opened a pipeline to the Atlanta area.

“Whatever was getting in Michigan State’s way (in past years) appears to be gone,” said Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News. “Few programs are on the same level right now.”

No. 2: Tradition

People won’t forget the 1979 national champions, led by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Greg Kelser. It will always help MSU. But the Spartans have created a new, rich tradition in 10 years.

It’s about winning, of course. But it’s also about developing NBA players. Eleven Izzo players have been drafted, while undrafted players such as Charlie Bell and Alan Anderson have reached the league as well.

That’s what recruits want to hear. What they see might make a bigger difference. Izzo believes MSU benefits greatly from the return of former players to campus each summer.

“It’s great for new guys coming in and for (recruits) who are considering MSU,” Bell said. “In the summer (at pickup games on campus), they’ll be going up against basically an NBA starting five. Not many colleges can say that.”

And those former Spartans usually have things to say to their successors.“Freshmen come in and they’ve seen some of these NBA guys on TV and now they’re playing with them,” Andre Hutson said. “They don’t want to be the ones to let State fall. I think that’s a big part of keeping it going.”

No. 3: The system

When March arrives, MSU typically has a big advantage over its opponents. Izzo’s system is built for the NCAA Tournament, with its short-term scouting and preparation.

When he was an assistant coach under Jud Heathcote, Izzo gained a keen interest in video scouting. He visited the Houston Rockets — and former MSU assistant Jim Boylen — during the 1994 and ’95 NBA Finals and came away with a blueprint.MSU was one of the first college teams to use XOS technology for scouting. The Spartans’ $500,000, cutting-edge system, was installed in 2001 and at the time eclipsed the setups of all but a handful of NBA teams. Duke, Kansas and Texas are among the programs to stop by East Lansing for a look.

“We became like the college experiment group,” Izzo said.

The MSU system is so effective, Izzo said many of his video assistants and managers “have been getting jobs all over the place.” And the same is true for seven former Izzo assistants who have moved on to head coaching jobs.

No. 4: The fans

The ‘Izzone’ expanded rapidly during the early years of the decade and now consists of nearly 4,000 members. That’s almost the entire bleacher section of the lower bowl, manned by hopping, screaming students in white T-shirts.

They have created an imposing atmosphere, one that was considered one of the nation’s best in the late ’90s and early 21st century.

“It just went right off the charts,” Izzo said of the early days of the student section. “It was just us and Duke then. That 53-game winning streak (from 1998-2002) ... eight or 10 of them, they won. People can say Duke, but we were way ahead of Duke in that three- or four-year period.

“And when it slacked off, I did say something.”

As lofty expectations became the norm and the Spartans struggled at times to meet them, the atmosphere in Breslin seemed to fall off for a few seasons. Izzo was critical at times and has worked to strike a balance between rowdiness and tastefulness.

Last season, the Breslin fans were more consistently loud than they had been in years, perhaps because they knew the undermanned, overachieving Spartans needed extra help. Ears bled during MSU’s win over No. 1 Wisconsin.“Was that awesome or what, huh?” Izzo said after the game. “That was unbelievable. I said our fans would have to carry us through because we were fatigued.”

No. 5: Tough schedules

"Anyone, anywhere" has been an MSU mantra since Izzo took over for Jud Heathcote — who typically stuck with mostly patsies in the nonleague schedule.Izzo tried to get as many marquee games as he could right away, because his program needed the TV exposure. As MSU improved, it added more big hitters to the slate. Witness the 1999-2000 nonleague lineup (Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, Connecticut and North Carolina).

Izzo also has scheduled Duke, UCLA, Syracuse, Florida, Louisville, Oklahoma and plenty of others during his tenure. He has a reputation for taking on all comers — a reputation that is relayed to recruits, who want to play on the biggest of stages.“I think maybe that’s what I’m as proud of as anything,” he said of his scheduling. “What would our winning percentage be if we scheduled normal?”

After the monster 2003-04 nonconference schedule backfired with an 0-6 showing, Izzo has tried to be more careful. Last season, he kept things light for his undermanned team. But Texas, UCLA, N.C. State, Maryland and trips to Bradley and BYU are on the 2007-08 docket.

No. 6: Character athletes

You have to have talent, but it helps to have quality individuals on your team as well. The character of MSU’s athletes over the years is a factor that should not be underplayed.

“No question, it’s a more successful program because of that,” Izzo said. “Everybody’s gonna have some (troubled) guys, but the key is, what do you put around them? A kid comes here … He’s going to get addressed here.”

Since former MSU star Mateen Cleaves had a few publicized legal run-ins during his time on campus, it’s been all quiet on the police scanner. And team chemistry has not been a problem.

“On a lot of teams you’ll see cliques and things like that,” Charlie Bell said. “A guy will get beat off the dribble and the guy behind him will say, ‘I ain’t helping him out, I don’t like him.’ You don’t have any of that at Michigan State.”

MSU also has had success in the classroom — tremendous success, relative to the men’s college basketball norm.

Since 2000, 21 MSU players have received their degrees. From 1990 to 2006, 51 of 59 players who completed their eligibility received their degrees (86.4 percent).

In terms of the NCAA’s new Academic Progress Rate, the latest numbers put MSU No. 11 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten, behind Illinois, among men’s basketball programs.

The poster boy is Chris Hill, a three-time Academic All-American who was named Academic All-American of the Year as a senior in 2005.

No. 7: Facilities

Berkowitz Center opened in 2001, a $7.5 million practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball that expanded Breslin Center and gave MSU one of the best facilities of its kind in the nation.

It’s a plush, high-tech fortress, tacked onto an 18-year-old arena that has been maintained well and provides a strong home-court advantage.

This fall, MSU will debut a $2.6 million locker room expansion, for the men’s and women’s teams, that will include huge lockers, a full kitchenette, a pool table, wireless Internet, a 126-inch screen that can be broken into nine 42-inch screens, a cold therapy tub, and photos and murals to celebrate MSU hoops history. The idea, Izzo said, is to encourage his players to stick around more and work out individually by giving them a comfortable place in which to hang out.

The idea also — obviously — is to lure recruits. MSU still has an edge on many programs with its 10-year-old Clara Bell Smith academic center. And the burgeoning football facilities nearby certainly can’t hurt.

MSU raised private funds for Berkowitz and the locker rooms, capitalizing on Izzo’s success and paving the way for more.

“We’re gonna have something where we can make a run the next six, eight, nine years,” Izzo said in regard to the facilities. “There won’t be anywhere better.”

No. 8: Identity

Actually, it’s more than one identity. MSU has carved a reputation for itself nationally as a rugged, intense, defense-first program. That has advanced the MSU “brand.” How many times have ESPN announcers talked about Izzo’s rebounding “War Drill?”

And when that started to work against Izzo — because people mistakenly thought his teams preferred a slow-down style — he got to the 2005 Final Four with Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown streaking down the floor for slam after jam.MSU’s identity as a basketball program is where it wants to be now — a tough outfit that plays exciting basketball. As for Izzo, he has been able to benefit his program — especially in the early days when he wasn’t winning — by sticking to an “open-door” policy with media and fans.

“Do I get sick of autographs? No, because I was here when nobody wanted it,” he joked.

Izzo also has been active in the community, giving time and money to several charities.

“The day I leave, they’ll get as good or better coach, I’m not saying that humbly but honestly,” Izzo said. “But I don’t think they’ll get a guy more pro-Lansing and pro-Michigan. I’ll do whatever anybody asks — they pay me well and treat me well.“In a way, I’m the right guy for MSU because it’s a blue-collar place and I’m a blue-collar guy. I want to be elitist only in where our program stands, not in how we act.”

No. 9: The U-M freefall

The Michigan basketball scandal involving late booster Ed Martin crippled the U-M program, helping accelerate MSU’s growth. Just as Izzo’s program was gaining steam in the late ’90s, Michigan entered the darkest period in its program’s history — a funk it continues to try to shake.

Martin told the federal government he lent $616,000 to ex-Wolverines Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock in the largest financial scandal in NCAA history.

The Wolverines fired coach Steve Fisher and made the 1998 NCAA Tournament under successor Brian Ellerbe. They haven’t been back since.

MSU has benefited from being the state’s premier team for an extended period. However, Izzo pointed out, he was able to recruit Antonio Smith, Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell and others when U-M was still on top.

“When we got our most critical recruits, they were still who they were,” he said.And what if U-M never became something else?

“There’s no question,” he said, “Tom Izzo was maybe in the right place at the right time.”

Now, MSU is the top dog, a national power, and U-M is the struggling little brother — the exact reverse of football.

No. 10: Jud Heathcote

Tom Izzo would not be in East Lansing right now if Jud Heathcote hadn’t hired him as a part-time assistant in 1983 — then fought to make sure he got the job upon Heathcote’s 1995 retirement.

“He singlehandedly got me the job,” Izzo said of Heathcote, who went 340-220 in 19 seasons at MSU, winning the 1979 national title.

And even though Izzo has made this program his own and taken it to heights Heathcote couldn’t reach, Jud’s fingerprints are everywhere. He was known as an innovative tactician and developer of guards and shooters, two things he passed on to Izzo.

Heathcote retired to Spokane, Wash., in 1995, but he remains involved in the MSU program. He mentors Izzo when asked — and he was asked a lot in the early years, when Izzo was trying to build a program while dealing with a heightened public profile.

He stepped back once Izzo got things humming. But he’s on the road with the Spartans in March — even watching some film with Izzo and his staff.

“The guy gives advice but he never shoves anything down your throat. Every year I say, ‘Now I understand why Jud did that,’” Izzo said of Heathcote. “I wish he was around more, but the thing I appreciate most is he’s never missed an NCAA game. That’s kind of amazing.”